Spotted Elk

Spotted Elk (1826-29 December 1890) was a Lakota Sioux chief who was killed in the Wounded Knee massacre by the US Army in 1890.

Biography
Spotted Elk was born in 1826, the son of chief Lone Horn of the Lakota tribe of the Sioux, and he was the half-brother of Sitting Bull, uncle of Crazy Horse, and brother of Touch the Clouds. In 1877, he became the new chief of the Mniconjou Lakota after his father died at the age of 87, and Spotted Elk was considered a peaceful leader. However, he allied with the other Indians during the Great Sioux War, and his defeat in the war forced him to make peace with the whites of the United States. In 1890, after Sitting Bull was murdered at the Standing Rock reservation, Spotted Elk led his band to the Pine Ridge Reservation at Red Cloud's invitation. On 28 December 1890, he surrendered to Samuel Whitside's troops, and he was escorted to the Wounded Knee camp, sick with pneumonia. On 29 December, the deaf Black Coyote refused to give up his gun, leading to a massacre of the Sioux by the soldiers; Spotted Elk was among the dead.